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UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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ADDRESS 


DELIVERED     BEFORE     THE 


gialjttic  aii^  ||JTilai#cfliiic  |;0dsHi5, 


AT 


JUNE  20,   1832. 

BY  HOS.  WILLIAM  GASTOA\  LL,  D. 


FIFTH  EDITION. 


CHAPEL  HILL  : 
JAMES  M.  HENDERSON, 

PKINTER  10  IHB  BNIVEESIir. 

1858. 


if^. 


This  Address  was  dollvcrc-d  before  the  two  Literiiry  Societies  of  the  Uui- 
%X'rsity  of  Xorth  Carolina  by  the  Hon.  Williaii  Ctastox,  LL.  D.,  on  Com' 
meneement  day  of  1832.  It  has  since  that  time  passed  through  four  edi- 
tions, lu  continues  to  be  so  popuhir  and  in  such  great  demand,  that  the 
Philanthropic  Society  lias  ordered  this  the  fifth  edition  to  be  published, 

2s'.  C.  HUGHES,  ^ 

M.  L.  EURE,        [-  Com. 

E.  H.  DAVIS.      3 


4^ 


UK 


Genti.emex  of  the  Dialectic  and  PiiiEAxxHr.oFic  Societies  : 

When  I  look  around  on  tliis  extraordinary  concourso  of 
visitors,  I  cannot  Init  fool  that  expectation  has  ])eon  too 
highl}'  excited,  and  cannot  but  anticipate  and  regret  the 
disappointment  which  it  must  necessarilj'  meet  with. — 
Aware  of  tlie  value  that  is  here  set  upon  the  ceremony  of 
the  annual  address  ;  knowing-  that  the  friends  of  the  I'ni- 
versity  tlu'oughout  the  State,  regard  it  as  calculated  not 
only  to  excite  a  spirit  of  emulation  among  the  Students, 
but  to  attract  the  public  attention  to  the  Institution  itself : 
and  warmlv  attached  to  that  noble  cause,  for  tlie  advance- 
ment of  which  these  edifices  have  been  erected  and  your 
associations  formed,  I  felt  myself  bound  to  accept  the  invi- 
tation, in  obedience  to  which  I  appear  before  you.  Could 
I  indeed  have  foreseen  the  unusual  engagements,  which 
added  to  the  ordinary  occupations  of  a  busy  life,  have  left 
me  no  leisure  to  prepare  any  thing  worthy  of  the  general 
expectation,  I  should  have  deemed  myself  at  liberty  to 
decline  the  call.  But  the  discovery  was  not  made  until  af- 
ter my  word  was  pledged,  and  it  was  too  late  to  hope  that 
the  duty  could  be  devolved  on  another.  Compelled  then 
to  choose  between  an  entire  disappointment  of  your  hopes, 
and  the  presenting  myself  to  joii  without  the  advantages 
of  full  preparation,  I  have  resolved  to  execute  the  underta- 
king imperfectly,  rather  than  forego  it  altogether.  To 
whatever  petty  mortifications  the  adoption  of  this  alterna- 
tive may  expose  lac  elsewhere,  from  you,  my'young  friends^ 


6  HON.  AVILLIAM  GASTON'S  ADDEESS. 

I  am  sure  of  a  favoraLlo  reception.  You  Avill  see  in  it  an 
expression  of  tlie  sense  wliieli  I  entertain  of  tlie  lionor  con- 
ferred on  me,  by  jowr  choice,  of  my  readiness  to  gratify 
your  wishes,  and  of  my  solicitude  to  cheer  you  on  in  the 
nol)le  career  upon  wliich  you  have  entered.  The  few 
homel}'  truths  which  I  wisli  to  impress  upon  your  minds, 
will  not  indeed  come  mended  from  my  tongue,  l)ut  I  do  not 
despair  that,  presented  in  their  naked  plainness,  hut  urged 
with  the  earnestness  and  sincerity  of  friendship,  they  ma}' 
win  their  way  to  3^our  generous  and  aft'ectionate  approbation. 
The  authority  of  Shakespeare  is  often  invoked  for  the  posi- 
tion, that  "  there  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men,  which  taken 
at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune."  "Without  venturing  to 
den}^  altogether  the  fitness  of  this  metaphor,  and  fully  ad- 
mitting it  to  have  enough  of  truth  to  render  it  appropriate 
to  the  occasion  for  which  it  was  used,  and  the  character  to 
whom  the  great  poet  assigned  it,  I  yet  regard  it  as  too  fa- 
vorable of  that  indolence  of  disposition  which  is  always 
ready  to  imagine  success  in  life  as  depending  on  some  for- 
tunate tide.  I  hold,  that,  generall}',  every  man  is  the  ar- 
chitect of  his  own  fortune,  the  author  of  his  own  greatness 
or  insignificance,  happiness  or  misery.  True  it  is,  that  cas- 
ualties, neither  to  be  foreseen  or  prevented,  may  defeat 
schemes  which  have  been  wisely  concerted  and  vigorously 
prosecuted ;  and  that  success,  undeserved,  and  perhaps  un- 
sought for,  may  sometimes  befall  the  weak  and  slothful. — 
These,  however,  are  but  occasional  deviations  from  the  or- 
dinary course  of  nature,  according  to  which,  man's  ener- 
gies, wisely  or  foolishly  directed,  and  diligently  or  careless- 
ly exerted,  are  made  to  determine  his  character  and  condi- 
tion in  society.  The  stoutest  ship  that  was  ever  manned 
with  prudent  heads,  brave  hearts  and  strong  hands,  has 
foundered  in  a  hurricane,  while  the  feeble  bark  that  "owns 
]io  mastery  in  floating,"  is  sometimes  safely  wafted  into 
port ;  yet,  who  can  deny  that,  ordinarily,  the  fote  of  the 


IIOX.  WILLIAM  GASTON  S  ADDRESS.  7 

voyage  must  depend  on  tlie  skill,  care  and  courage  witli 
Avliicli  it  is  conducted. 

Mucli,  too,  very  much,  cither  for  permanent  good  or  ill 
in  the  tate  of  evcrv  individual,  lias  been  found  to  foUov,'  al- 
most necessarily  from  the  habits  formed,  the  propensities 
cherished  or  restrained,  and  the  rules  of  conduct  adopted 
at  a  very  early  period  of  life.  AVe  might,  perhaps,  l)e 
tempted  to  regret  that  such  important  and  often  awful  con- 
sequences should  follow  on  the  doings  of  an  age,  when  the 
unworn  senses  are  alive  to  every  impression,  and  the  keen 
appetite  greedy  for  every  enjoyment  ;  when  the  imagina- 
tion is  wild,  the  judgment  feeble,  and  "heedless  rambling 
impulse"  has  scarcely  learned  to  think.  Yet  such  is  the 
constitution  of  nature,  and  such  consequently  the  ap[)oint- 
ment  of  Him,  whose  w\ays  are  always  wase,  benevolent  and 
just,  and  whose  will  it  w^ere  not  more  madness  to  resist, 
than  it  is  impiety  to  question.  Look  through  the  world, 
and  the  least  observant  cannot  fail  to  discover  talents  abus- 
ed, opportunities  squandered,  and  men  ruined,  because  of 
early  folly,  misbehavior  or  thoughtlessness;  and  let  those  wlio 
have  passed  through  life's  ordeal  w4th  safety  and  honor,  look 
back  on  their  trials,  and  the}'  will  acknowledge  how  much 
they  owe  to  very  early  impressions,  and  to  habits  contrac- 
ted almost  without  a  sense  of  their  use  or  a  foresight  of 
their  consequences.  He,  therefore,  who  aspires  to  excel- 
lence, cannot  too  soon  propose  to  himself  the  objects  which 
he  should  strive  to  obtain,  nor  fix  his  aim  too  early,  or  too 
steadily,  on  the  eucl  to  which  his  efforts  should  be  directed. 
The  shortness  of  life,  the  large  fragments  of  it  which  are 
necessarily  occupied  by  animal  wants,  or  wasted  in  frivol- 
ous cares  and  amusements,  leave,  at  best,  but  an  inconsid- 
erable portion  to  be  devoted  to  intellectual  cultivation  and 
exertion.  To  waste  this  portion  would  be  criminal  impro- 
vidence, and  it  is  of  the  highest  moment  to  learn  betimes 
how  it  may  be  most  beneficially  applied. 


Q  IIOX.  WILLIAM  GASTON  S  ADDRESS. 

The  end  wliieli  an  ingenuous  youth  naturally  proposes  to 
hhnself  is,  a  faithful  and  honorable  discharge  of  the  duties 
of  life.  His  objects  are  to  realize  the  fond  hopes  of  his  pa- 
rents and  friends,  to  acquire  the  affection  and  esteem  of 
tliose  around  him,  to  become  the  dispenser  of  good  to  his 
fellow-men,  and  thus  to  fulfil  the  purposes  for  which  it  has 
pleased  God  to  place  him  in  this  world  of  trial  antl  discip- 
line, lie  feels  that  these  objects  are  indeed  good.  By  a 
moral  instinct,  he  is  propelled  towards  them  as  fit  to  fill  his 
heart,  kindle  his  aspirations  and  animate  his  exertions. — 
Reason,  as  she  gradually  unfolds  her  powers  and  assumes 
dominion  over  him,  sanctions  this  choice  with  her  appro- 
Ijation  ;  and  Eeligion  comes  in  aid  of  ISTature  and  Reason, 
to  teach  him  that  talents  are  but  lent  to  be  improved,  and 
that  an  account  must  be  one  day  rendered,  in  which  their 
use  or  neglect  will  be  amply  rewarded  or  severely  punish- 
ed. How  much  is  it  not  to  be  lamented,  that  sloth  should 
enervate,  dissipation  corrupt,  or  vice  brutalize,  this  child  of 
hope  and  promise  ?  You  who  have  him  in  charge,  watch 
over  him  with  never  sleeping  vigilance  and  affectionate 
solicitude.  Give  him  a  happy  start,  sustain  him  when 
disposed  to  flag,  reanimate  him  when  discouraged,  check 
kindly  liis  wanderings,  soothe  his  wounded  feelings,  guide 
him  with  your  counsels,  and  save  him  from  the  foes  by 
which  he  is  surrounded  and  beset. 

"  Made  nova  virtute  puer  sic  itur  ad  asfra." 

Most  faithfully,  no  doubt,  are  these  duties  performed  by 
the  able  and  excellent  men  who  are  here  charged  with  the 
ofHce  of  instruction.  Little  can  be  done  in  aid  of  their  ef- 
forts, but  to  exhort  and  entreat  all  placed  under  their  care 
to  attend  to  their  admonitions,  treasure  up  their  counsels, 
and  obey  their  injunctions.  Yet  there  are  some  errors 
which  were  prevalent  when  I  was  a  boy,  which  I  have  rea- 
son to  believe  still  prevail  in  public  schools,  and  which  may 
perhaps  be  better  handled  by  an  old  friend  than  by  an  ac- 


IIOX.  WILLIAM  GASTOX^'S  ADDRESS.  9 

knowlodged  instructor — and  to  these,  therefore,  I  would 
for  a  feu'  iiionients  request  the  i\u-oral>le  attentiou  of  the 
Younger  portion  of  1113'  hearers. 

Vigorous,  diligent,  and  persevering  application  is  essen- 
tial to  the  attainment  of  excellence  in  every  pursuit  of  man. 
It  is  undouhtedly  a  mistake  to  suppose,  that  there  is  no 
original  inequality  in  the  mental  faculties  of  different  indi- 
viduals. Probably,  there  is  as  great  a  disparity  in  their  in- 
tellectual, as  their  physical  conformation.  But  hovrever 
false  this  extravagant  theory  may  be,  there  is  another  er- 
ror far  more  common,  and,  practically,  far  more  mischie- 
vous— the  error  of  exaggerating  the  difference  between  the 
original  energies  of  intellect,  and  of  attributing  to  splendid 
and  resistless  genius  those  victories,  which  are  not  to  bo 
achieved  but  by  well  directed  and  continued  industry.  It 
is  in  the  infancy  of  life,  that  the  inequalities  of  original 
talent  are  most  striking,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  vanity 
on  the  one  hand,  and  indolent  admiration  on  the  other, 
should  hjqDerbolically  extol  these  obvious  advantages.  In 
what  this  disparity  consists,  it  may  not  be  easy  to  state 
with  precision.  But  from  an  observation  of  many  years, 
I  venture  to  suggest,  that  the  chief  natural  superiority  man- 
ifested by  the  favored  few  over  their  competitors  in  the  in- 
tellectual conflict,  is  to  be  found  in  the  facility  with  which - 
their  attention  is  directed  and  confined  to  its  proper  sub- 
jects. That  youth  may  be  regarded  as  fortunate  indeed, 
wdio  in  early  life  can  restrain  his  wandering  thouglits  and 
tie  down  his  mind  at  will,  to  the  contemplation  of  whatev- 
er he  washes  to  comprehend  and  to  make  his  own.  A  few 
moments  of  this  concentrated  application  is  worth  days  and 
weeks  of  a  vague,  interrupted,  scattered  attention.  The 
first  resembles  the  well-known  manoeuvre  in  Strategy,  so 
simple  in  its  conception  and  yet  so  astonishing  in  its  re- 
sults, by  which  all  the  arms  of  a  military  force  are  made  to 
bear  upon  a  given  point  at  the  same  moment.     Everything 


10  HON.  "WILLIAM   GASTON'S  ADDRESS. 

here  tells,  because  there  is  no  power  wasted,  and  none  mis- 
applied. IS'ow  let  no  one  despair,  because  he  finds  this  ef- 
fort to  confine  his  attention  difficult,  or  for  a  considerable 
length  of  time  impracticable.  IS'othing  is  more  certain 
than  that  this  power  over  the  mind  ma_y  1)e  acquired.  Let 
the  attempt  be  repeated  again  and  again — first  for  short, 
afterwards,  as  the  ability  is  increased,  for  longer  periods, 
and  success  will  ultimately  follow.  The  habit  of  fixed  at- 
tention will  thus  be  created,  and  it  is  one  of  the  peculiari- 
ties of  all  active  habits,  that  in  proportion  to  the  difficulty 
with  which  they  were  produced,  is  their  inveteracy,  when 
once  thoroughly  formed.  Thus,  it  not  unfrequently  hap- 
pens, that  the  advantages  with  which  the  individual  com- 
menced his  career,  who  was  naturally  alert  and  devoted 
in  his  attention  to  every  sulrject  as  it  was  successively  pre- 
sented to  his  notice,  have  not  enabled  him  to  contend  suc- 
cessfully with  him,  who  by  hard  efforts  has  chained  down 
his  wandering  thoughts  and  dissipated  faculties  to  the  hab- 
it of  attention. 

Among  the  best  results  which  attend  a  course  of  regular 
academical  education,  is  this  exclusive  and  concentrated 
direction  of  the  mental  powers  to  their  appropriate  objects. 
In  the  years  employed  principally  in  the  study  of  the 
learned  languages,  the  necessity  of  finding  out  the  mean- 
ing of  each  word,  and  discerning  either  the  agreement  be- 
tween different  words,  or  the  dependance  of  some  of  them 
upon  others  in  certain  grammatical  relations,  necessarily 
sharpens  and  fixes  the  attention.  After  this  preparatory 
discipline  of  the  intellect,  the  student  is  introduced  to  the 
study  of  mathematical  science,  where  proposition  leads  on 
to  proposition  in  regular  order,  and  his  attention  is  neces- 
sarily enchained  to  each  truth,  as  it  follows  with  logical 
certainty,  from  truths  previously  demonstrated.  He  is 
then  initiated  into  the  mysterious  laws  of  ISTatural  Philoso- 
phy, as  they  have  been  discovered,  explained,  and  illustra- 


IIOX.  WILLIAM    GASTOX'S  ADDRESS.  11 

tod,  by  a  course  of  rigorous  induction,  and  is  ultimately  fa- 
miliarized with  the  yet  nobler  ami  more  sublime  investiga- 
tions of  moral  science,  the  refinements  of  taste,  the  beau- 
ties of  eloquence,  and  the  charms  of  heavenlj-  poesy.     And 
this  admiral)le  training  is  conducted  remote  from  the  bus- 
tles and  cares  of  the  world,  in  the  very  hush  of  the  passions, 
and  be^^ond  the  reach  of  beguiling  and  distracting  pleas- 
ures.    Here,  surely,  then,  the  understanding  is  disciplined, 
its  discriminations  rendered  more  acute,  its  general  health 
and  vigor  confirmed,  while  a  facility  is  created  for  directing 
its  powers  to  the  various  manly  and  trying  services,  which 
may  await  it  in  life's  busy  theatre.      But  not  unfrequently 
is  the  question  asked  by  querulous  Students,  why  all  this 
devoted  attention  to  the  dead  languages,  to  mathematical 
theorems,  philosophical  experiments,  metaphysical  disquis- 
itions and  critical  subleties  ?     In  the  world,  no  one  talks 
Greek  or  Latin,  and  at  the  Forum,  or  in  the  Legislative 
Hall,  we  shall  not  be  called  to  demonstrate  the  propositions 
of  Euclid,  or  explain  the  phenomena  of  hydrostatics  and 
optics.     The  motives  of  human  action  are  better  learned  in 
that  great  practical  school,  the  world,  than  by  poring  over 
the  theories  of  metaphysicians  ;  and  all  the  rules  of  Quinc- 
tilian,  Rollin  or  Blair,  will  never  make  a  powerful  reasoner 
or  an  eloquent  orator.     ^A^iy,  then,  shall  we  consume  otir 
nights  and  days  in  the  acquisition  of  that  which  is  to  be  of 
no  practical  utility  hereafter,  and  wdiicli  brings  with  it  no 
immediate  advantage,  except  the  gratification  of  pride,  a 
short-lived  honor,  a  distinction  at  Commencement  ?    Be- 
w^are,  my  young  friends,  bew^are  of  the  tempter.     These  are 
the  suggestions  of  Sloth — the  most  insidious,  persuasive 
and  dangerous  of  deceivers.      ♦ 

"  Vifanda  est  improha  syren  Desidia." 
If  you  cannot  close  your  ears  against  her  insinuations, 
strengthen  your  understandings  to  triumph  over  her  soph- 
isms, and  nerve  your  courage  to  resist  her  wdles.    Be  sure, 


12  iiox.  willia:m  gastox's  addeess. 

if  yon  submit  to  lier  bcnumbiug  influence,  and  waste  your 
daj's  bere  in  idleness,  tbe  time  will  come,  wlien  w^itli  bit- 
ter, but  perhaps  unavailing  anguisb,  you  sliall  bemoan  your 
folly.  Remember,  that  it  is  not  designed  by  an  accidental 
education,  to  teacli  you  all  that  it  behooves  you  to  learn — 
Education  is  not  completed  within  these  Avails.  When  you 
shall  have  quitted  this  peaceful  retreat,  and  selected  the 
profession  or  state  in  life  in  which  joii  are  to  be  engaged, 
then  you  should  apply  all  your  efforts  to  the  acquisition  of 
that  species  of  knowledge  which  is  more  especially  needed. 
Here  are  inculcated  those  elementary  principles  of  science 
and  literature,  which  experience  has  shown  to  be  best  fitted 
to  form  the  foundation  of  the  character  of  the  scholar  and 
gentleman — those  rudiments  of  instruction,  which,  omitted 
here,  are  rarely  indeed  acquired  afterwards.  Here  are  to 
be  formed  those  habits  of  vigorous  and  continuous  applica- 
tion— here,  the  capacities  for  improvement  are  to  be  culti- 
vated and  strengthened,  so  that  every  occasion  and  every 
emplojmrent  without  these  walls  may  become  subsidary  to 
further  advancement  in  knowledge,  ability,  and  usefulness. 
It  is  a  miserable  fallacy  to  mistake  the  exception  for  the  rule. 
True  it  is,  that  those  who  have  won  the  highest  honors  at 
College,  do  not  always  realize  the  hopes  that  these  glorious 
beginnings  have  excited.  "  The  fair  bloom  of  fairest  fruit" 
may  be  blasted  by  pestilent  dews.  Folly,  vanity  and  vice, 
low  pursuits  and  vulgar  associations,  indolence,  intemper- 
ance, and  debauchery,  but  too  often  debase  and  destroy  the 
generous  j^outh,  who  entered  on  life's  career,  rich  in  aca- 
demical distinctions,  docile,  ardent  for  fame,  patient  of  la- 
bour, of  manly  purpose  and  noblest  promise.  Mourn  over 
these  moral  wrecks.  Lamelit  the  instability  of  all  earthly 
good,  the  frail  character  of  all  human  excellence.  Weep  for 
those  who  have  fallen  from  their  high  estate,  but  say  not  it 
was  folly  in  them  thus  to  have  risen.  True  it  is  also,  that 
it  sometimes,  though  very  rarely,  happens,  that  those  who 


nox.  ■WILLIAM  Gaston's  addees?.  13 

have  been  idle  during  tlieir  ncademical  course,  have  by  ex'- 
traordinary  exertions,,  retrieved  tlieir  early  neglect,  and  in 
the  end  outstripped  others  Avho  started  in  the  race  fiir 
ahead.  These  are  the  exceptions — they  furnish  cause  to 
humble  arrogance,  check  presumption,  banish  despair,  and 
'encourage  reformation.  But  so  surely  as  a  virtuous  life 
visually  preceeds  a  happy  death,  so  surely  it  will  be  found, 
that  within  the  College  precincts  is  laid  the  ground  work 
of  that  pre-eminence  afterward  acquired  in  the  strife  of 
men,  and  that  College  distinctions  are  not  only  good  testi- 
mony of  the  fidelity  with  which  College  duties  have  been 
performed,  but  the  best  presages  and  pledges  of  excellence 
on  a  more  elevated  and  extensive  field  of  action.  In  defi- 
ance, therefore,  of  all  the  lures  of  pleasure,  and  seductive 
suggestions  of  sloth,  let  active  persevering  industry  be  the 
habit  of  your  lives.  Fomi  this  habit  here,  and  cherish  and 
preserve  it  ever  afterwards. 

But  however  earnestly  you  are  thus  exhorted  to  diligence, 
let  it  not  be  forgotten,  that  diligence  itself  is  but  a  subor- 
dinate cjuality,  and  derives  its  chief  value  from  the  end  to 
which  it  is  directed,  and  the  motives  by  which  it  is  impell- 
ed. It  is  diligence  in  a  good  cause  only  that  is  commend- 
able. The  first  great  maxim  of  human  conduct,  that  which 
it  is  all  important  to  impress  on  the  understandings  of  young 
men,  and  recommend  to  their  hearty  adoption,  is  above  all 
things,  in  all  circumstances,  and  under  every  emergency, 
to  preserve  a  clean  heart  and  an  honest  pnrpose.  Integri- 
ty, firm,  determined  integrity,  is  that  quality,  which  of  all 
others,  raises  man  to  the  highest  dignity  of  his  nature,  and 
fits  him  to  adorn  and  bless  the  sphere  in  which  he  is  ap- 
pointed to  move.  Without  it,  neither  genius  nor  learning, 
neither  the  gifts  of  God,  nor  human  exertions,  can  avail 
aught  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  great  objects  of  human 
existence.  Integrity  is  the  cro^^vning  virtue — integrity  is 
•the  perv^ading  principle  which  ought  to  regulate,  guide,  con^ 


14  IIOX.  WILLIAM  GASTON'S  ADDRESS. 

trol,  and  vivify,  every  impulse,  desire  and  action.  Honesty 
is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  a  vulgar  virtue ;  and  perliaps 
that  honesty,  which  barely  refrains  from  outraging  the 
positive  rules  ordained  by  society  for  the  protection  of  pro- 
perty, and  which  ordinarily  pays  debts  and  performs  its  en- 
gagements, how^ever  useful  and  commendable  a  quality,  is 
not  to  be  numbered  among  the  highest  eftbrts  of  human 
virtue.  But  that  integrity  Avliich,  however  tempting  the 
opportunity,  or  however  secure  against  detection,  no  selfish- 
ness nor  resentment,  no  lust  of  power,  place,  favour,  profit 
or  pleasure,  can  cause  to  swerve  from  the  strict  rule  of  right, 
is  the  perfection  of  man's  moral  nature.  In  this  sense,  the 
poet  was  right,  when  he  pronounced  "  an  honest  man  the 
noblest  work  of  God."  It  is  almost  inconceivable  what  an 
erect  and  independent  spirit  this  high  endowment  commu- 
nicates to  the  man,  and  what  a  moral  intrepidity  and  vivi- 
fying energy  it  imparts  to  his  character.  There  is  a  family 
alliance  between  all  the  virtues,  and  perfect  integrity  is  al- 
ways followed  by  a  train  of  goodly  qualities,  frankness  be- 
nevolence, humanity,  patriotism,  promptness  to  act,  and  pa- 
tience to  endure.  In  moments  of  public  need,  these  indi- 
cate the  man  who  is  worthy  of  universal  confidence.  Erec- 
ted on  such  a  basis,  and  built  up  of  such  materials,  fame  is 
enduring.  Such  is  the  fame  of  our  Washington,  of  the  man 
"inflexible  to  ill  and  obstinately  just."  While,  therefore, 
other  monuments,  intended  to  perpetuate  human  greatness, 
are  daily  m.ouldering  into  dust,  and  belie  the  proud  inscrip- 
tions which  they  bear,  the  solid  granite  pyramid  of  his 
glory  lasts  from  age  to  age,  imperishable,  seen  afar  off", 
looming  high  over  the  vast  desert,  a  mark,  a  sign,  a  won- 
der, for  the  wayfarers  through  this  pilgrimage  of  life.  . 

A  nice  sense  of  integrity  cannot,  therefore,  be  too  early 
cherished,  or  too  sedulously  cultivated.  In  the  very  dawn- 
ings  of  life  occasions  are  presented  for  its  exercise.  With- 
in these  walls,  temptations  every  day  occur,  when  temporary 


HON.  WILLIAM   GASTON's  ADDRESS.  15 

advantage  solicits  a  deviation  from  the  rule  of  right.  In 
the  discharge  of  the  various  duties  which  you  owe  to  your 
companions,  let  no  petty  selfishness  be  indulged,  no  artifi- 
liccs  practised,  l\y  which  you  are  to  escape  from  your  fair 
share  of  labour,  inconvenience  or  contribution,  or  any  one 
deprived  of  the  full  measure  of  whatever  'he  may  rightfully 
claim.  Cultivate  singleness  of  purpose  and  frankness  of 
demeanor,  and  hold  in  contempt  whatever  is  sordid,  disin- 
genous,  cunning  or  mean.  But  it  is  when  these  peaceful 
shades  shall  have  been  left  behind,  and  the  fitful  course  of 
busy  life  begun,  that  seductions  will  be  presented  under 
every  form  by  which  inexperience,  infirmity  of  purpose, 
and  facility  of  disposition,  can  be  waylaid.  Then  is  the 
crisis  of  the  young  man's  fate — then  is  the  time  to  take  his 
stand,  to  seize  his  vantage  ground.  If  he  can  then  defy 
the  allurements  of  cupidity,  sensuality  and  ambition,  the 
laugh  of  fools,  the  arts  of  parasites,  and  the  contagion  of 
improbity ;  then  indeed,  may  he  hope, 

"  In  sight  of  mortal  and  immortal  powers, 

"  As  in  a  boundless  theatre  to  run 

"  The  great  career  of  justice — 

"  And  through  the  mists  of  passion  and  of  sense, 

"  Aud  through  the  tossing  tide  of  chance  and  pain 

"  To  hold  his  course  unfaultering." 

You,  m}"  young  friends,  who  are  standing  at  the  thresh- 
old, and  waiting  with  eager  impatience  the  signal  for  en- 
trance upon  life,  must  not  think  that  I  mean  to  alarm  you 
with  idle  fears,  because  I  thus  warn  you  of  the  approaching 
conflict.  The  enraged  bull  may  close  his  eyes  before  he 
rushes  upon  his  foe,  but  rational  courage  calmly  surveys 
danger,  and  then  deliberately  prepares  and  determines  to 
encounter  it.  Apprized  of  your  peril,  and  armed  for  the 
encounter,  enter  on  your  course  with  resolved  hearts,  and 
fear  not  for  the  issue. 

So  sweet  are  the  notes  of  human  praise,  and  so  abhorrent 
the  tones  of  reproach,  that  it  is  among  the  highest  efibrts 


16  IIOX.  WILLIAM  GASTO^"'S  ADDRESS. 

of  magnanimity  to  pursne  the  straigiit  forward  course  of 
duty,  without  being  turned  aside  by  commendation  or  re- 
proof, by  flattery  or  calumny.  Wliatever  be  our  journey 
through  life,  like  the  princes  in  the  Eastern  tale  ascending 
the  mountain  in  search  of  the  wondrous  bird,  we  are  sure 
to  hear  around  us  the  confused  sounds  of  blandishment 
and  solicitation,  of  menace  and  insult,  until  with  many  of 
us,  the  giddy  head  is  turned,  and  we  are  converted  into 
monuments  of  warning  to  those  who  are  to  follow  life's  ad- 
venture. Rare,  indeed,  is  that  moral  courage,  which,  like  a 
prudent.  Parisade,  closes  its  ears  against  the  imprsssion  of 
these  sounds,  and  casts  not  an  eye  behind  until  its  destined 
course  be  accomplished.  E-are,  however,  as  may  be  this 
excellence,  in  its  perfection  perhaps  unattainable,  there  can 
be  no  true  dignity  and  decision  of  character  "without  a  near 
approach  to  it.  Let  youth  be  ever  modest,  ever  deferen- 
tial to  the  counsels,  the  suggestions  and  the  claims  of 
ocners.  But  in  matters  of  right  and  wrong,  whatever  be 
the  lures,  the  taunts,  or  the  usages  of  the  Avorld,  or  "what- 
ever the  supposed  inconvenience  of  singularity,  let  judg- 
ment and  conscience  always  rule  with  absolute  sw^ay. 
Carry  this  maxim  with  you  through  life,  whatever  be  the 
station  you  are  to  occupy,  or  the  business  you  are  to  pur- 
sue ;  and  carry  with  it  another  kindred  maxim :  rely  for 
success  in  your  undertakings,  not  on  the  patronage  of  oth- 
ers, but  on  your  own  capacity,  resolution,  diligence,  and 
exertions.  Rise  by  merit,  or  rise  not  at  all.  Suited  as 
these  injunctions  are  believed  to  be,  to  all,  they  are  pecu- 
liarly addressed  to  those  among  you,  who,  panting  for  re- 
nown, are  resolved  to  enter  upon  a  public  career,  and  long 
"to  read  their  history  in  a  nation's  e3^es." 

"  How  wretched,"  exclaims  the  Poet  of  Nature,  "is  that 
poor  man  who  hangs  on  Princes'  favours."  Miserable  is 
the  condition  of  every  being  who  hangs  on  the  favours  of 
creatures  like  himself.    Deserve,  and  strive  by  desert  to 


HON.  WILLIAM  GASTON'S  ADDRESS.  17 

win,  tlie  esteem  of  your  fellow  men.  Tlius  acquired,  it 
decorates  liim  who  obtains,  and  blesses  those  who  bestow  it 
To  them  it  is  returned  in  faithful  service,  and  to  him  in  aid  of 
the  approbation  of  conscience  to  animate  diligence  and  re- 
ward exertion.  Those  too,  who  engage  in  public  service, 
are  bound  to  cherish  a  hearty  sympathy  with  the  wants, 
feelings,  comforts  and  wishes  of  the  people,  whose  welfare 
is  committed  to  their  charge.  It  is  essential  for  the  preser- 
vation of  that  confidence  which  ought  to  subsist  between, 
the  principal  and  the  agent,  the  constituent  and  the  repre- 
sentative, that  all  haughtiness  and  reserve  should  be  ban- 
ished from  their  intercourse.  It  sometimes  happens,  that 
he  who  has  lived  too  constantly  among  books,  manifests  a 
disgust  in  an  association  with  the  uneducated  and  unrefin- 
ed, which  mortifies  and  repels  them.  This  is  absurd  in  him 
and  unjust  to  them.  It  is  absurd,  for  he  ought  to  know, 
and  know  well,  those  for  whom,  and  upon  whom,  he  ex- 
pects to  act — they  constitute,  in  fact,  one  of  the  first  and 
most  appropriate  objects  of  his  study;  and  it  is  unjust,  for 
not  unfrequently  under  this  roughness  which  shocks  the 
man  of  books,  is  to  be  found  a  stock  of  practical  informa- 
tion, in  which  he  is  miserably  deficient.  Banish,  then,  all 
superciliousness,  for  it  is  criminal  and  ridiculous.  Honest- 
I  ly  seek  to  serve  your  country,  for  it  is  glorious  to  advance 
the  good  of  your  fellow  men,  and  thus,  as  far  as  feeble  mor- 
tals may,  act  up  to  the  great  example  of  Him  to  whose  im- 
age and  likeness  you  are  made.  Seek,  also,  by  all  honest 
arts,  to  win  their  confidence,  but  beware  how  you  prefer 
their  favor  to  their  service.  The  high  road  of  service  is 
indeed  laborious,  exposed  to  the  rain  and  sun,  the  heat  and 
dust ;  while  the  by-path  of  favor  has,  apparently,  at  first, 
much  the  same  direction,  and  is  bordered  with  flowers  and 
sheltered  by  trees,  "  cooled  %vith  fountains  and  murmuring 
with  waterfalls."  ]^o  wonder,  then,  that  like  the  son  of 
Abensina,  in  Johnston's  beautiful  Apologue,  the  young  ad- 


18  HOX.  WILLIAM    GASTON'S  ADDRESS. 

venturer  is  tempted  to  try  tlie  liappy  experiment  of  "  unit- 
ing pleasure  with  business,  and  gaining  the  rewards  of  dil- 
igence without  suftering  its  fatigues."  But  once  entered 
upon,  the  path  of  favor,  though  found  to  decline  more  and 
more  from  its  first  direction,  is  pursued  through  all  its  de- 
viations, till  at  length  even  the  thought  of  return  to  the 
road  of  service  is  utterly  abandoned.  To  court  the  fond- 
ness of  the  people,  is  found,  or  supposed,  to  be  easier  than 
to  merit  their  approbation.  Meanly  ambitious  of  public 
trust,  without  the  virtues  to  deserve  it ;  intent  on  personal 
distinction,  and  having  forgotten  the  ends  for  which  alone 
it  is  worth  possessing,  the  miserable  being,  concentred  all 
in  self,  learns  to  pander  to  every  vulgar  prejudice,  to  advo- 
cate every  popular  error,  to  chime  in  with  every  dominant 
party,  to  ftiwn,  flatter  and  deceive,  and  becomes  a  dema- 
gogue. How  wretched  is  that  poor  being  who  hangs  on 
the  peoi)le"s  favor !  All  manliness  of  principle  has  been 
lost  in  this  long  course  of  meanness ;  he  dare  not  use  his 
temporary'  popularity  for  any  purposes  of  public  good,  in 
which  there  may  be  a  hazard  of  forfeiting  it ;  and  the  very 
eminence  to  which  he  is  exalted,  renders  but  more  conspi- 
cuous his  servilitv  and  deo'radation.  However  clear  the 
convictions  of  his  judgments,  however  strong  the  admoni- 
tions of  his,  as  yet,  not  thoroughly  stifled  conscience,  not 
these,  not  the  law  of  God,  nor  the  rule  of  right,  nor  the 
public  good — ^but  the  caprice  of  his  constituents,  must  be 
his  only  guide.  Having  risen  by  artifice,  and  conscious  of 
no  worth  to  support  him,  he  is  in  hourly  dread  of  being 
supplanted  in  the  favor  of  the  deluded  multitude  by  some 
more  cunning  deceiver.  And  such,  sooner  or  later,  is  sure 
to  be  his  fate.  At  some  unlucky  moment,  when  he  bears 
his  blushing  honors  thick  upon  him,  (and  well  may  such 
honors  blush!)  he  is  jerked  from  his  elevation  by  some 
more  dexterous  demagogue,  and  falls  unpitied,  never  to 
rise  again.     And  can  this  be  the  lot  of  him  who  has  been 


HON.  WILLIAM  GASTON'S  ADDRESS.  19 

liere  trained  to  admire  and  love  liigli-minded  excellence — 
who  lias  been  taught  by  high  classical  authority  to  regard 
with  the  same  fearless  and  immovable  iudifierence,  the 
stern  countenance  of  the  tyrant  and  the  wicked  ardor  of  the 
multitude,  and  who  has  learned  from  a  yet  higher  and  ho- 
lier authority,  to  hold  fast  on  "  whatsoever  things  are 
true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are 
just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  to  abhor  that  which  is 
evil  and  cleave  to  that  which  is  good  ?"  Believe  me,  how- 
ever, this  is  no  f\mcy  picture.  The  original  may  be  found 
in  the  world  every  day.  JSTor  will  it  surprise  those  who 
have  had  occasion  to  see  how  the  vain  heart  is  swoln, 
and  the  giddy  head  turned,  how  honesty  of  purpose  and 
manliness  of  spirit,  are  perverted  by  popular  applause.  It 
is  but  the  first  step  that  costs.  Once  yield  to  the  sugges- 
tion, that  a  little  deciet  or  prevarication,  a  slight  sacrifice 
of  principle  and  independence,  a  compromise  of  conscience 
in  matters  not  absolutely  fundamental,  may  be  excused, 
when  the  immediate  gain  is  obvious  and  the  end  in  view 
important,  and  the  downward  path  becomes  every  day 
more  and  more  smooth,  until,  in  its  descent,  it  reaches  the 
very  abyss  of  vulgar,  trading,  intriguing,  electioneering, 
office-hunting  politicians.  If  in  this  lowest  depth  a  lower 
deep  can  be  found,  none  of  us,  I  am  sure,  have  the  curiosi- 
ty to  explore  it. 

But  is  Integrity  sure  to  meet  here  its  merited  reward  ? — 
Unquestionably  not.  If  it  were,  and  the  fact  generally 
known,  there  would  scarcely  be  room  for  choice,  and  men 
would  be  honest  from  the  want  of  a  plausible  temptation 
to  be  otherwise.  But  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that,  in 
general.  Integrity  has  a  tendency  to  promote  the  interest 
of  him  who  pursues  it,  and  it  is  therefore  recommended  to 
our  adoption  by  prudence,  not  less  than  by  principle. — 
Success  in  the  acquisition  of  any  extrinsic  object  is  neces- 
sarily uncertain,  since  it  depends  on  contingencies  which 


Ifd  HON.  WILLIAM  GASTON'S  ADDRESS. 

cannot  be  foreseen,  and  which,  if  foreseen,  are  frequently  "be- 
yond our  power.  It  is  not  in  mortals  to  command  success,  l^o 
talent,  no  courage,  no  industry,  and  no  address,  can  he  certain 
to  affect  it.  But  when  it  is  attempted  hy  cunning,  disingenu- 
ous means,  it  is  usually  rendered  more  difficult  of  attainment, 
hecause  of  the  complexity  of  the  scheme,  and  the  risk  of  detec- 
tion and  counteraction.  Honesty,  in  the  long  run,  is  therefore 
the  surer  policy.  It  is  impossible  to  thrive  without  the 
reputation  of  it,  and  it  is  far  easier  to  be  honest  indeed, 
than  to  cheat  the  world  into  the  belief  of  integrity  where 
it  is  not.  The  crooked  stratagems,  the  arts,  toils,  conceal- 
ments and  self-denials,  which  are  necessary  to  cany  on  a 
successful  imposition,  are  far  more  onerous  and  painful, 
than  all  the  duties  which  a  life  of  probity  enjoins;  while 
the  consciousness  of  an  upright  deportment,  diffuses  through 
the  whole  man  that  security  and  serenity,  which  infinitely 
outweigh  all  the  advantages  of  successful  cunning.  I^or  in 
recommending  a  spirit  of  Independence,  is  it  intended  to 
proscribe  the  acceptance  of  friendly  aid,  freely  tendered, 
and  won  by  no  mean  solicitation.  Childi'en  of  the  same 
common  family,  we  are  bound  to  help  each  other  in  the 
trials  and  difficulties  of  our  common  pilgrimage,  nor  should 
we  ever  be  too  proud  to  receive  from  others  that  assistance, 
which  it  is  our  duty  to  render  to  them.  'Now  such  aid  is 
not  only  more  likely  to  be  bestowed,  but  comes  with  far 
greater  effect,  when  there  has  been  a  manly  and  sustained 
effort  to  do  without  it.  The  spindling  plant  which  has  al- 
ways been  supported  by  a  prop,  is  not  only  unable  to  stand 
alone,  but  can  scarcely  be  sustained  by  props  when  the  sea- 
son of  fruit  arrives ;  whereas,  the  slightest  assistance  then 
bestowed  on  the  hardy  tree,  that  self-sustained  has  always 
braved  the  breeze,  will  enable  it  to  bear  up  under  the  heav- 
iest and  richest  burthen.  He  who  trusts  to  others  must  be 
necessarily  often  disappointed,  and  the  habit  of  dependence 
creates  a  helplessness  which  is  almost  incapable  of  exertion. 


HON.  WILLIAM  GASTON'S  ADDRESS.  21 

Fancy  dwells  ou  expected  aid,  until  it  mistakes  its  own  cre- 
ations for  realities,  and  tlie  child  of  illusion  wastes  life  in 
miserable  day  dreams,  unable  to  act  for  himself,  and  confi- 
dently relying  on  assistance  wbicli  be  is  destined  never  to 
receive. 

Deeply  rooted  principles  of  probity,  confirmed  habits  of 
industry,  and  a  determination  to  rely  on  ons's  own  exer- 
tions, constitute  then  the  great  preparation  for  the  dis- 
charge of  the  duties  of  man,  and  the  best  security  for  per- 
forming them  with  honor  to  one's  self  and  benefit  to  others. 
Eut  it  may  be  asked,  what  is  there  in  such  a  life  of  never 
ending  toil,  effort  and  privation,  to  recommend  it  to  the 
acceptance  of  the  young  and  the  gay  ?  Those  who  aspire 
to  heroic  renown,  may  indeed  make  up  their  minds  to  em- 
brace these  "  hard  doctrines ;"  but  it  may  be  well  question- 
ed whether  happiness  is  not  preferable  to  greatness,  and  en- 
joyment more  desirable  than  distinction.  Let  others,  if 
they  will,  toil  up  "  up  the  steep  where  Fame's  proud  tem- 
ple shines  afar;"  we  choose  rather  to  sport  in  luxurious 
ease  and  careless  glee  in  the  valley  below.  It  is,  indeed, 
on  those  who  aspire  to  eminence,  that  these  injunctions 
are  intended  to  be  pressed  with  the  greatest  emphasis,  not 
only  because  a  failure  in  them  would  be  more  disastrous 
than  in  others,  but  because  they  are  exposed  to  greater  and 
more  numerous  dangers  of  error.  But  it  is  a  sad  mistake 
to  suppose  that  they  are  not  suited  to  all,  and  are  not  ear- 
nestly urged  upon  all,  however  humble  their  pretensions  or 
moderate  their  views.  Happiness,  as  well  as  greatness,  en- 
joyment as  well  as  renown,  have  no  friends  so  sure  as  In- 
tegrity, Diligence  and  Independence.  We  are  not  placed 
here  to  waste  our  days  in  wanton  riot  or  inglorious  ease, 
with  appetites  perpetually  gratified  and  never  palled,  ex- 
empted from  all  care  and  solicitude,  with  life  ever  fresh, 
and  joys  ever  new.  He  who  has  fitted  us  for  our  condition, 
and  assigned  to  us  its  appropriate  duties,  has  not  left  his 


22'  HON.  WILLIAM  GAvSTON'S  ADCRESS. 

work  unfinished,  and  omitted  to  provide  a  penalty  for  the 
neglect  of  our  obligations.  Labor  is  not  more  the  duty, 
than  the  blessing  of  man.  Without  it,  there  is  neither 
mental  nor  physical  vigor,  health,  cheerfulness,  nor  anima- 
tion ;  neither  the  eagerness  of  hope,  nor  the  capacity  to  en- 
joy. Every  human  being  must  have  some  object  to  engage 
his  attention,  excite  his  wishes,  and  rouse  him  to  action,  or 
he  sinks,  a  prey  to  listlessness.  For  want  of  proper  occu- 
pations, see  strenuous  idleness  resorting  to  a  thousand  ex- 
pedients— the  race  course,  the  bottle,  or  the  gaming  table, 
the  frivolities  of  fashion,  the  debasements  of  sensuality, 
the  petty  contentions  of  envj^,  the  grovelling  pursuits  of 
avarice,  and  all  the  various  distracting  agitations  of  vice. 
Call  you  these  enjoyments  ?  Is  such  the  happiness  which 
it  is  so  dreadful  to  forego  ? 

"  Vast  hapoiness  enjoy  thy  gay  allies  ! 

"  A  youth  of  follies,  an  old  age  of  cares, 
Young  yet  enervate,  old  yet  never  wise ; 

"  Vice  VFastes  their  vigor  and  their  mind  impairs. 
"  Vain,  idle,  dissolute,  in  thoughtless  ease, 

"  lleserving  vroes  for  age,  their  prime  they  spend ; 
"  All  vrrotched,  hopeless  to  the  evil  days, 

"  With  sorrow  to  the  verge  ot  life  they  tend  ; 
"  Grieved  with  the  present,  of  the  past  ashamed  ; 

"  They  live  and  are  despised,  they  die,  jio  more  are  named." 

If  to  every  bounty  of  Providence  there  be  annexed,  as 
assuredly  there  is,  some  obligations  as  a  condition  for  its 
enjoyment;  on  us,  blest  as  we  have  been,  and  as  we  now 
are,  with  the  choicest  gifts  of  Heaven  here  below — with 
freedom,  peace,  order,  civilization  and  social  virtue — there 
are  unquestionably  imposed  weighty  obligations.  You 
whom  I  now  address,  will,  in  a  few  years,  be  among  the 
men  of  the  succeeding  age.  In  a  country  like  ours,  where 
the  public  will  is  wholly  unfettered,  and  every  man  is  a 
component  part  of  that  country,  there  is  no  individual  so 
humble  who  has  not  duties  of  a  public  kind  to  discharge. 


HON.  WILLIAM  GASTON's  ADDRESS.  23 

His  views  aud  actions  have  an  influence  on  tliose  of  others, 
and  his  opinions,  with  theirs,  serve  to  make  up  that  public 
wilL  More  especially  is  this  the  case  Avith  those  who, 
whatever  may  be  their  pursuits  in  hfe,  have  been  raised  by 
education  to  a  comparative  superiority  in  intellectual  vigor 
and  attainments.  On  you,  and  such  as  3'ou,  depends  the 
fate  of  the  most  precious  heritage  ever  won  by  the  valor, 
or  preserved  by  the  prudence,  or  consecrated  ])y  the  virtue 
of  an  illustrious  ancestry — illustrious,  not  because  of  facti- 
tious titles,  but  nature's  nobles,  wise,  good,  generous  and 
brave  !  To  you,  and  such  as  you,  will  be  confided  in  de- 
posit, the  institutions  of  our  renowned  and  beloved  country. 
Receive  them  with  awe,  cherish  them  with  loyalty,  and 
transmit  them  whole,  and  if  possible,  improved  to  your 
children.  Yours  will,  indeed,  be  no  sinecure  office.  As 
the  public  will  is  the  operative  spring  of  all  public  action, 
it  will  be  your  duty  to  make  and  to  keep  the  public  will 
enlightened.  There  will  always  be  some  error  to  dispel, 
some  prejudice  to  correct,  some  illusion  to  guard  against, 
some  imposition  to  detect  and  expose.  In  aid  of  these  in- 
dividual efi:orts,  you  must  provide,  by  public  institutions, 
for  ditfusing  among  the  people,  that  general  information 
without  which  they  cannot  be  protected  from  the  machina- 
tions of  deceivers.  As  your  country  grows  in  years,  you 
must  also  cause  it  to  grow  in  science,  literature,  arts  and 
refinement.  It  will  be  for  you  to  develope  and  multiply  its 
resources,  to  check  the  faults  of  manners  as  they  rise,  and 
to  advance  the  cause  of  industr}-^,  temperance,  moderation, 
justice,  morals  and  religion,  all  around  you.  On  you  too, 
will  devolve  the  duty  which  has  been  too  long  neglected, 
but  which  cannot  with  impunity  be  neglected  much  longer, 
of  providing  for  th-e  mitigation,  and  (is  it  too  much  to  hope 
for  in  North  Carolina  ?)  for  the  ultimate  extirpation  of  the 
worst  evil  that  affects  the  Southern  part  of  our  Confedera- 
cy.    Full  well  do  you  know  to  what  I  refer,  for  on  this  sub- 


24  HON.  WILLIAM   GASTON'S  ADDKESS. 

|ect  tliere  is,  with  all  of  us,  a  morbid  sensitiveness  wHcIi 
gives  warning  even  of  an  approach  to  it.  Disguise  the 
truth  as  we  may,  and  throw  the  blame  where  we  will,  it  is 
Slavery  which,  more  than  any  other  cause,  keeps  us  back 
in  the  career  of  improvement.  It  stifles  industry  and  re- 
presses enterprise — it  is  fatal  to  economy  and  providence — 
it  discourages  skill — impairs  our  strength  as  st  community, 
and  poisons  morals  at  the  fountain  head.  How  this  evil  is 
to  be  encountered,  how  subdued,  is  indeed  a  difficult  and 
delicate  enquiry,  which  this  is  not  the  time  to  examine,  nor 
the  occasion  to  discuss.  I  felt,  however,  that  I  could  not 
discharge  my  duty,  without  referring  to  this  subject,  as  one 
which  ought  to  engage  the  prudence,  moderation  and  firm- 
ness of  those  who,  sooner  or  later,  must  act  decisively  up- 
on it. 

I  would  not  depress  your  bouyant  spirits  with  gloomy 
anticipations,  but  I  should  be  wanting  in  frankness,  if  I 
did  not  state  my  conviction,  that  you  will  be  called  to  the 
performance  of  other  duties  unusually  grave  and  impor- 
tant. Perils  surround  you  and  are  imminent,  which  will 
require  clear  heads,  pure  intentions,  and  stout  hearts,  to 
discern  and  to  overcome.  There  is  no  side  on  which  dan- 
ger may  not  make  its  approach,  but  from  the  wickedness 
and  madness  of  factions,  it  is  most  menacing.  Time  was, 
indeed,  when  factions  contended  amongst  us  with  virulence 
and  fury ;  but  they  were,  or  affected  to  be,  at  issue,  on 
questions  of  principle;  now,  Americans  band  together  un- 
der the  names  of  men,  and  wear  the  livery,  and  put  on  the 
badges  of  their  leaders.  Then  the  individuals  of  the  dif- 
ferent parties  were  found  side  by  side,  dispersed  through- 
out the  various  districts  of  our  confederated  Republic ;  but 
now,  the  parties  that  distract  the  land,  are  almost  identified 
with  our  geographical  distinctions.  Kow  then  has  come 
that  period,  foreseen  and  dreaded  by  our  "Washington,  by 
him,  "  who  more  than  any  other  individual,  founded  this  our 


HON.  WILLIAM  GASTON'S  ADDRESS.  25 

wide-spreading  Empire,  and  gave  to  our  western  world  in- 
dependence and  freedom" — by  liimj  who  with  a  father's 
warning  voice,  bade  us  beware  of  "  parties  founded  on  geo- 
graphical discriminations."  As  yet,  the  sentiment  so  deep- 
ly planted  in  the  hearts  of  our  honest  yeomanry,  that  union 
is  strength,  has  not  been  uprooted.  As  yet,  they  acknow- 
ledge the  truth,  and  feel  the  force  of  the  homely,  but  excel- 
lent aphorism,  "United  we  stand,  divided  we  fall."  As 
yet,  they  take  pride  in  the  name  of  "the  United  States'* 
— in  the  recollection  of  the  fields  that  were  won,  the  blood 
which  was  poured  forth,  and  the  glory  which  was  gained 
in  the  common  cause,  under  the  common  banner  of  a  uni- 
ted country.  May  God,  in  his  mercy,  forbid  that  I,  or  you,, 
my  friends,  should  live  to  see  the  day,  when  these  senti- 
ments and  feelings  shall  be  extinct !  Wlienever  that  day 
comes,  then  is  the  hour  at  hand  when  this  glorious  Repub- 
lic, this  at  once  national  and  cenfederated  Republic,  which 
for  nearly  half  a  century  has  presented  to  the  eyes,  the 
hopes,  and  the  gratitude  of  man,  a  more  brilliant  and  love- 
ly image  than  Plato,  or  More,  or  Harrington,  ever  feigned 
or  fancied,  shall  be  like  a  tale  that  is  told,  like  a  vision  that 
has  passed  away.  But  these  sentiments  and  feelings  are 
necessarily  weakened,  and  in  the  end  must  be  destroyed, 
unless  the  moderate,  the  good  and  the  wise  unite  to  "frown 
indignantly  upon  the  first  dawnings  of  every  attempt  to 
alienate  any  portion  of  our  country  from  the  rest,  or  to  en- 
feeble the  sacred  ties  which  now  link  together  its  various 
parts,"  Threats  of  resistance,  secession,  separation — have 
become  common  as  household  words,  in  the  wicked  and 
silly  violence  of  public  declaimers.  The  public  ear  is  fa- 
miliarized, and  the  public  mind  will  soon  be  accustomed 
to  the  detestable  suggestions  of  Disunion  !  Calculations 
and  conjectures,  what  may  the  East  do  without  the  South, 
and  what  may  the  South  do  without  the  East,  sneers,  me- 
naces, reproaches,  and  recriminations,  all  tend  to  the  same 


26  HON.  WILLIAM  GASTON'S  ADDRESS. 

fatal  end  !  What  can  the  East  do  without  the  South  ? — 
What  can  the  South  do  without  tlie  East  ?  They  may  do 
much ;  they  may  exhibit  to  the  curiosity  of  political  anato- 
mists, and  the  pity  and  wonder  of  the  world,  the  "  disjecta 
membra"  the  sundered  bleeding  limbs  of  a  once  gigantic 
body  instinct  with  life  and  strength,  and  vigor.  They  can 
furnish  to  the  philosophic  historian,  another  melancholy 
and  striking  instance  of  the  political  axiom,  that  all  Re- 
publican Confederacies  have  an  inherent  and  unavoidable 
tendency  to  dissolution.  They  will  present  fields  and  oc- 
casions for  border  wars,  for  leagues  and  counter-leagues, 
for  the  intrigues  of  petty  statesmen,  the  struggles  of  mili- 
tary chiefs,  for  confiscations,  insurrections,  and  deeds  of 
darkest  hue.  They  will  gladen  the  hearts  of  those  who 
have  proclaimed,  that  men  are  not  fit  to  govern  themselves, 
and  shed  a  disastrous  eclipse  on  the  hopes  of  rational  free- 
doom  throughout  the  world.  Solon,  in  his  Code,  proposed  no 
punishment  for  parricide,  treating  it  as  an  impossible  crime. 
Such  with  us,  ought  to  be  the  crime  of  political  parricide 
— the  dismemberment  of  our  "father  land."  "  Cari  sunt 
])arentes,  cari  sunt  liberi,  jyroinnqui,  familiares,  sed  omnes  omnium 
caritates  patria  una  complexa  est;  2^ro  qua  quis  bonus  dubitei 
mortem  oppeiere  si  ei  sit  iwofuturus  ?  Quo  est  detestabilior  isto^ 
rum  immanitas  qui  lacerarunt  scdere  patriam,  et  in  ea  funditus 
delenda  occupaii  et  sunt  etfu£ru7it." 

If  it  must  be  so,  let  parties  and  party  men  continue  to 
quarrel  with  little  or  no  regard  to  the  public  good.  They 
may  mistify  themselves  and  others  with  disputations  on 
political  economy,  proving  the  most  opposite  doctrines  to 
their  own  satisfaction,  and  perhaps,  to  the  conviction  of  no 
one  else  on  earth.  They  may  deserve  reprobation  for  their 
selfishness,  their  violence,  their  errors,  or  their  wickedness. 
They  may  do  our  country  much  harm.  They  may  retard 
its  growth,  destroy  its  harmony,  impair  its  character,  ren- 
der its  institutions  unstable,  pervert  the  public  mind,  and 


HON.  WILLIAM  OASTON'S  ADDRESS.  27 

deprave  the  public  morals.  These  are,  indeed,  evils,  and 
sore  evils,  but  the  principle  of  life  remains,  and  will  yet 
struggle  with  assured  success,  over  these  temporary  mala- 
dies. Still  we  are  great,  glorious,  united  and  free;  still 
we  have  a  name  that  is  reveared  abroad  and  loved  at  home 
— a  name  which  is  a  tower  of  strength  to  us  against  foreign 
wrong,  and  a  bond  of  internal  union  and  harmony — a  name, 
which  no  enemy  pronounces  but  with  respect,  and  which 
no  citizen  hears,  but  with  a  throb  of  exultation.  Still  wo 
have  that  blessed  Constitution,  which,  with  all  its  pretend- 
ed defects,  all  its  alleged  violations,  has  conferred  more 
benefit  on  man,  than  ever  yet  flowed  from  any  other  human 
institution — which  has  established  justice,  insured  domes- 
tic tranquility,  provided  for  the  common  defence,  promoted 
the  general  welfare,  and  which,  under  God,  if  we  be  truo 
to  ourselves,  will  insure  the  blessings  of  Liberty  to  us  and 
our  posterity. 

Surely,  such  a  country,  and  such  a  Constitution,  have 
claims  upon  you,  my  friends,  which  cannot  be  disregarded. 
I  entreat  and  adjure  you  then,  by  all  that  is  near  and  dear 
to  you  on  earth — by  all  the  obligations  of  Patriotism — by 
the  memory  of  your  fathers,  who  fell  in  the  great  and 
glorious  struggle — for  the  sake  of  your  sons  whom  you 
would  not  have  to  blush  for  your  degeneracy — by  all  your 
proud  recollections  of  the  past,  and  all  your  fond  anticipa- 
tions of  the  future  renown  of  our  nation — preserve  that 
Country,  uphold  that  Constitution.  Resolve,  that  they 
ehall  not  be  lost  while  in  your  keeping,  and  may  God  Al- 
mighty strengthen  you  to  fulfil  that  vow ! 


